A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to information retrieval systems and, more particularly, to a hypertext browsing assistant that improves search-related activities.
B. Description of Related Art
Conventional techniques for searching a hypertext medium, such as the World Wide Web (“web”), are replete with deficiencies. For example, a user typically uses a web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, to perform a search on the web. Many conventional techniques for searching the web require that the user leave the document the user is currently viewing. To perform the search, the user typically must access a search engine or hierarchical web directory and enter one or more keywords. This a time-consuming and cumbersome process.
Also, conventional web-searching techniques are slow because the user must wait for the desired document to load into the web browser. This can be a time consuming process that often depends on the speed of the user's connection to the web.
The documents, such as web pages, that result from these searches frequently do not contain links to all of the topics discussed in the documents and the links they do contain often include insufficient information regarding the link. As a result, it is often difficult to distinguish which links point to high quality and relevant content and which do not.
Therefore, there exists a need for overcoming the deficiencies of conventional searching techniques.